once, i took my mother in laws car to a place like jiffy lube, i am not sure the name, and i watched, which i always do or i dont go there, and they drained the oil and put on a new filter and after a while one of them came along and told the other one to start it up.
i said, "whoooooah there, you havent put any oil in that yet".

there is a place i use all the time here, where the manager was one of my wife's students in grade school. this guy just loves my wife. after he was an adult he used to come by at least once a year to her classroom and visit. he brought his first born child by to show her. you get the idea.

so a couple of years back they were doing my car and had it all done and i checked the oil. it was a quart below the bottom mark on the dipstick. i said hey john! you didnt put enough oil in. he said "you know you cant ever drain out all the oil in an engine, there is a quart and a half in there that you cant drain out. i dont want to over fill it." i said, 'that is just crazy. john you have got to stop doing that. they put the dipstick here for you to check the oil with. you fill it according to that. dont ever send a car of mine out with it low like that!'

after thinking about it i realized that six months earlier i had sent my daughter by with one of my 240ds to have the oil changed there on her way back to ball state. and later that car blew a rod from being low on oil. i bet he sent it out three quarts low.

another time i had this 65 reo with a 166 cummins in it. i took it to a big truck dealer to have something fixed and got the oil changed at the same time. then i took it to michigan to pick up a load of lumber for my house iwas building. on the way back i stopped for fuel and checked the oil. nothing on the stick. i added thirteen quarts. (how much does that damned thing hold?) so first i was worried that it was burning it like crazy. but it wasnt, so the truck repair had charged me for 32 quarts or whatever it held and only put half of it in there.

so i never let anybody change my oil unless i can watch. except my indie, and i seldom have them do it cause they charge too much.

so always make them show you the dipstick before accepting the car.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.